DYK a Rubber Duck Could Help You Learn to Code?

Explaining your code to rubber ducks will help you debug code

IT'S TRUE! It's a common practice in the developer world to practice a debugging method known as "Rubber Duck Debugging". This form of problem solving was made popular in the book The Pragmatic Programmer, where a lone developer would talk to a rubber duck and explain each line of code in order to debug his program. Despite first impressions that may suggest insanity, this is a very logical practice. Explaining your code out loud helps you organize your logic and helps you debug code faster.

This is a helpful practice when writing code alone and is seen as a common alternative to pair programming. However, we'd prefer you to pair program with a friend becausecoding is best in a group process. But for those moments where a developer is alone and it's just you and your code, we give Colorado developers a floating friend.

This was our Senior Ruby on Rails instructor Jason Noble's idea, and it has stuck ever since. DaVinci Coders' gives out their mascot, "/Backspace/ the Ninja Duck" to keep programmers company and help them iron out the kinks in their code, but to also use during water activities.

This is one of those fun and endearing DaVinci Coder traditions of our Colorado learn to code bootcamp. /Backspace/ represents us well because he's friendly, efficient, floaty, and ninja dynamic. He has a hard rubbery duck texture and can take whatever obscenities and syntax you throw at him, but unlike most rubber ducks, he's more dexterous and a great listener.

He can help you learn to code and debug it faster, but also doubles as a bath toy — just don't bring your computer.

If you are a Colorado developer and need /Backspace/ to help you debug some code and keep you company during your most watery moments - just ask us. Our coding school is ready to teach you to learn to code, and the best methods of debugging it as well.